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Sleep, as Shakespeare noted in Macbeth, is the chief nourisher in life’s feast. But some go hungrier than others, and their ranks are increasing. Some 70 million people in the United States alone are thought to suffer from insomnia or another pathology of sleep.

Sleep is universal, but there is decent evidence that we are doing it wrong. That we need eight hours of sleep a night to function is a myth; that we need our shut-eye in one continued bout is unlikely. Before artificial lights, people went to bed earlier. And it was once more common to have two night-time sleeps, separated by a productive period of wakefulness. Continue reading →